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A dizzying ride on the Hill: Lawmakers debate in circles as shutdown enters week two
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It must be something about October and two-year intervals in Congress.
Congress was paralyzed for more than three weeks without a leader two years ago this October as the House unceremoniously ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
And Congress is paralyzed again this October – unable to find the votes to re-open the government.
«There’s nothing for us to negotiate,» said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. «We did the job to keep the government open. And now it’s on the Senate Democrats.»
OMINOUS RED AND ORANGE SKIES HAD CAPITOL HILL TAKE NOTICE AS SHUTDOWN LOOMED
But Democrats say that’s the problem. There haven’t been negotiations. Save for a brief White House meeting last week between President Trump and the top four bipartisan, bicameral Congressional leaders a day before the shutdown.
«The Majority Leader in the Senate, John Thune, R-S.D., talks about, ‘we’ll have conversations.’ We need more than conversations. We need a real negotiation,» said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., on Fox.
So there are no talks. And the sides are seemingly talking past each other.
It seems as though Congress is positively heading nowhere as shutdown negotiations drag on. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
So, they’ve turned to handicapping.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., gamed out that the shutdown would run another week.
«It won’t end until everybody in the Senate takes their ego out back and shoots it. And then it’ll end,» predicted Kennedy.
It always is, and always will be about the math.
Senate Republicans can conjure up the votes of 55 senators to break a filibuster on the House-passed bill to fund the government. But they need 60 yeas. And Republicans are determined to stick to their playbook.
«I can tell you there’s more than five Democrats in the Senate who know that (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. has led them into a box canyon with this Schumer shutdown,» said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Fox. «But the consequences will start to pile up.»
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: SENATE REVOTES TODAY ON ENDING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wouldn’t directly answer a question about what would trigger federal firings. But Leavitt made clear that jobs hung in the balance.
«We don’t want to see people laid off. But unfortunately, if this shutdown continues, layoffs are going to be an unfortunate consequence of that,» said Leavitt.
Democrats excoriated the Trump Administration for hinting it would cut programs and jobs in agencies important to Democrats.
«Americans really hate bullies. And this kind of bullying from the White House is going to backlash because they understand that an authoritarian president uses grants to New York for infrastructure, laying off workers, deliberately inflicting pain,» predicted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. «Don’t inflict unnecessary pain and then boast about it.»
Some Republicans practically reveled in the White House approach.
«All’s fair in love and war. I think that there’s a price to pay for the Democrats shutting this down,» said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. «These will be part of the consequences.»
Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., argued that the shutdown is «collective punishment» and undercuts Republicans equally harshly. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)
But one Democrat argued that the Trump administration’s gambit would also undercut Republicans and voters who supported the president. Even in blue states.
«There’s a lot of folks in Vermont, there’s lot of folk in Illinois who voted for President Trump. So this sort of collective punishment,» said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Fox. «I think it’s a really bad idea.»
But the president is coy about when the shutdown could trigger federal layoffs.
«It could,» said the president. «At some point it will.»
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted that his department saw «a slight uptick» in aviation safety employees who were calling out sick during the shutdown – since they weren’t being paid.
«They’re thinking about how am I going to get a paycheck? How do I make a car payment,» said Duffy.
WHITE HOUSE ESCALATES SHUTDOWN CONSEQUENCES AS DEMOCRATS SHOW NO SIGNS OF BUDGING: ‘KAMIKAZE ATTACK’
But if you squint, you can see a few signs of bipartisanship.
Johnson is discussing Obamacare subsidies with one prominent Democrat.
«I had I think a fruitful discussion, with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., about two days ago, a day or so ago,» said Johnson on efforts to address looming Obamacare premium spikes. «Whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor. I’m ready to go.»
But Schumer is skeptical about the Speaker’s promises.
«Delay has always been Speaker Johnson’s MO. Speaker Johnson has survived by kicking the can down the road,» said Schumer. «When Johnson says later, they know he means never.»
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., insists Democrats are «playing a losing game.» (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)
Tension is building as the shutdown barrels into its second week as lawmakers spin in circles.
«I realize that my Democrat colleagues are facing pressure from members of their far left base. But they’re playing a losing game here,» said Thune.
But each side is now engaged in a game of parliamentary chicken. Republicans won’t budge from their demand that Senate Democrats approve their funding plan. And Democrats won’t relent from their insistence that the sides shore up Obamacare subsidies.
«I’m not going to vote to reopen the government until I see a way that we can do that,» said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
Even some Republicans worry about Obamacare price spikes.
«There are some folks in what is the new part of the Republican Party, which is blue-collar workers,» said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., on Fox Business. «We have to be careful how we do this. We just shouldn’t cut it. We should make sure we use a scalpel and not a sledgehammer.»
SHUTDOWN IGNITES STRATEGIST DEBATE: WILL TRUMP AND GOP PAY THE POLITICAL PRICE IN 2026?
But even if bipartisan senators were to forge a deal, the plan may slam into a brick wall in the House.
«Republicans have spent most of their careers being against Obamacare. Why would they expand it and add a subsidy on top of a subsidy?» asked House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla.
A debate is now raging over which side will cave. Or which party faces political consequences.
Naturally, Republicans believe Democrats will pay a price.
«Their radical base just wants to see them up here fighting Donald Trump, not over any particular issues,» said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
But Democrats don’t see a political downside.
«Are you concerned in any way about the political ramifications that voters might blame your side down the road?» yours truly asked House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
«The American people are crystal clear on who shut down the government. Crystal clear,» replied Jeffries.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., suggested Americans are «crystal clear» on who shoulders the blame for the shutdown. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
However, some lawmakers doubt that voters care about who «shut down the government.»
«My constituents don’t care about the finger pointing. They just want us to govern,» said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa.
As the impasse deepens, the Senate shifted from parliamentary posturing to ecumenical intercession.
«On this third day of the government shutdown, inspire them to work for your glory in all they think, say, and sow,» prayed Senate Chaplain Barry Black during his invocation of the Senate last week.
HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN
And then there are the sideshows. The White House sent out a meme portraying Budget Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper. And the president trolled Jeffries with an AI-generated social media video, casting Jeffries in a sombrero and a mustache with mariachi music playing in the background.
At the same time, Republicans warned about grave shutdown consequences.
«Real pain is being endured by real people,» said Johnson.
But in the next breath, the Speaker defended the president making light of circumstances, describing the trolling as «entertainment.»
«That’s what President Trump does. And people are having fun with this,» said Johnson.
I didn’t let that go.
«On one hand, you say this is very serious. That people have jobs on the line. On the other hand, you say, ‘oh, this is just fun and games and they’re trolling.’ Which is it?» I inquired.
«What they’re trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, is to point out the absurdity of the Democrats’ position,» answered Johnson.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended President Trump’s making light of current circumstances as «entertainment.» (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
So we don’t know if or when Vought will drop the anvil on federal workers. But one senator who caucuses with the Democrats and voted for the GOP plan, signaled his support could wane if Republicans overplay their hand.
«If they start firing thousands of people or clawing back other kinds of programs, I think, it could hurt their chances of getting this resolved,» said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.’
The Senate has now blocked the House-approved spending package on six separate occasions. The sides are having casual conversations. But nothing has happened.
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It’s as though Congress is on a merry-go-round to nowhere, just going around and around. Everyone’s getting dizzy. And just wants to dismount.
congress,government shutdown,house of representatives politics,senate,white house
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DHS unloads on anti-ICE Dems after man arrested with manifesto, ‘disturbing’ alleged plot to kill agents
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FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security is speaking out against immigration rhetoric from Democrats and launching an investigation after a U.S. citizen in Oregon was arrested and found with a manifesto stating his plans to kill U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
Last week, the St. Helen’s Police Department north of Portland arrested an 18-year-old during a traffic stop after he was found with knives and materials used to manufacture Molotov cocktails, according to police, Fox 12 Oregon reported.
The individual, Rayden Coleman, is also alleged to have authored a manifesto outlining a plan to kill ICE agents at a Portland ICE office in an attack using Molotov cocktails and a gun. Additionally, Coleman reportedly told investigators about his plan and that he was set to pick up an AR-15 the next day from a licensed dealer to carry out the attack, and he is also reported to have admitted making statements about beheading ICE agents.
«Every day there are more assaults, more vehicle-ramming attacks, more attempts to kill our officers,» Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. «Now, we have an American citizen planning to kill ICE officers with Molotov cocktails and gun them down. It’s disturbing.»
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSWOMAN SPARKS ONLINE OUTRAGE OVER ‘DERANGED’ QUESTION TO ICE DIRECTOR ABOUT ‘GOING TO HELL’
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deploy pepper balls, tear gas, and flashbang grenades as hundreds of protesters march from Portland City Hall to an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, on Feb. 1, 2026. (Sean Bascom/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«Sanctuary politicians comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols have real world consequences. The men and women of ICE and CBP are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must end.»
The DHS statement comes the day after several House Democrats railed against ICE during a hearing with acting ICE Director Todd Lyons comparing ICE agents to Nazis and the Gestapo as they slammed the Trump administration over the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two anti-ICE activists killed during interactions opposing federal immigration authorities.
ICE REVEALS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ARRESTS IN JUST ONE DAY AFTER ROUNDING UP ‘THUGS’ CONVICTED OF VILE CRIMES
Protesters, using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity, face off with Minneapolis police officers in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 24, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
DHS says there is an ongoing investigation into the Oregon arrest with ICE Homeland Security Investigations, and that Coleman is facing state charges on six counts of manufacturing a destructive device, and two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault.
Coleman is being held in the Columbia County jail and is listed as having a bail of $400,000.
ICE officers are facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them, according to DHS, along with an 8,000% increase in death threats.
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US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, along with other federal law enforcement agencies, attend a pre-enforcement meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (Getty Images)
As Democrats rally against ICE across the country, Congress has until Friday at midnight to fund DHS, with Democrats threatening to shut down the government if their demands for ICE reforms are not meant and as the days go by, the odds of doing so are becoming increasingly slim.
«I think they (Democrats) are using families as political weapons,» DHS Secretary Kristi Noem exclusively told Fox News Digital last week. «And this is a little bit different, because when it’s the whole government that they shut down, they’re not necessarily just attacking security.»
«This feels like a direct attack on the security of our country, our homeland. And it’s almost as though they’ve gotten so extreme, they don’t care if we’re out there on the front lines keeping our country safe from terrorists, keeping our country safe from murderers and rapists,» Noem added.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller and Emma Colton contributed to this report.
immigration,politics,homeland security,illegal immigrants
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Iranian brutality: Nobel laureate fighting for life after barbaric assault at notorious prison
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The Norwegian Nobel Committee is calling on Iran to stop its physical abuse and life-threatening treatment of Nobel peace laureate Narges Mohammadi, who has been imprisoned since December.
The committee said it had received «credible reports» of «life-threatening mistreatment» of Mohammadi, an activist arrested by plain-clothes agents while peacefully attending the funeral of the late human rights lawyer and advocate Khosrow Alikordi.
Mohammadi has been beaten by wooden sticks and batons and dragged across the ground by her hair, tearing sections of her scalp and causing open wounds, the committee said.
US AMBASSADOR WARNS IRAN AT EMERGENCY UN MEETING THAT TRUMP IS ‘MAN OF ACTION,’ ‘ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE’
Ali and Kiana Rahmani, children of Narges Mohammadi, an imprisoned Iranian human rights activist, attend the Nobel Peace Prize 2023 award ceremony, where they accept the award on behalf of their mother at Oslo City Hall, Norway on Dec. 10, 2023. (NTB/Javad Parsa via REUTERS )
Furthermore, she was repeatedly kicked in the genitals and pelvic region, leaving her unable to sit or move without severe pain and raising serious concerns of bone fracture, it said.
«The Committee is horrified by these acts, and reiterates that Ms. Mohammadi’s imprisonment is arbitrary and unjust,» committee Chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said in a statement. «Her only ‘offence’ is the peaceful exercise of her fundamental rights – freedom of expression, association and assembly – in defence (sic) of women’s equality and human dignity.»
TOP IRANIAN GENERAL THREATENS TO ‘CUT OFF’ TRUMP’S HAND OVER POTENTIAL MILITARY STRIKES
Ali Rahmani, son of Narges Mohammadi, an imprisoned Iranian human rights activist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, speaks after receiving the award on behalf of his mother at Oslo City Hall, Norway. (NTB/Fredrik Varfjell via REUTERS)
An Iranian prosecutor at the time of the arrest told reporters that Mohammadi made provocative remarks at the memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad and encouraged those present «to chant norm‑breaking slogans» and «disturb the peace,» Reuters reported.
Mohammadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, has spent much of the last two decades in Iran’s infamous Evin prison.
The committee is calling on Tehran to release Mohammadi and guarantee her access to medical care.
The state tax building burned during Iran’s protests, on a street in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 19, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
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«Mohammadi’s ordeal is yet another grim example of the brutal repression that has followed the mass protests in Iran, where countless women and men have risked their lives to demand freedom, equality and basic human rights,» it said.
iran,world politics,personal freedoms
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Alejada de Estados Unidos y con Rusia en la mira, Europa dispara la producción de armamento
La industria militar europea vio con pánico el inicio de la guerra de Rusia contra Ucrania. Kiev quemaba en un día más obuses de artillería y munición de los que podían producir las fábricas europeas en un mes. Los arsenales europeos empezaron a vaciarse peligrosamente para sostener al esfuerzo militar europeo. Cuando Rusia atacó, Europa producía menos de 300.000 obuses de 155mm al año. Estados Unidos poco más de 170.000. Rusia disparaba a diario más de 15.000.
Cuatro años después la película es totalmente diferente gracias a una combinación de tres estrategias. Primero se pusieron en marcha fondos públicos que sirvieran de palanca para levantar inversión privada. El programa ASAP de la Comisión Europea, con 500 millones de euros, fue el germen. Los Estados miembros pusieron seguidamente 2.000 millones de euros más y la industria añadió 8.000 millones cuando los ministerios de Defensa empezaron a firmar contratos a largo plazo que aseguraba la venta de todo lo producido, para rellenar arsenales y para seguir ayudando a Ucrania.
La segunda pata fue la diversificación geográfica. Rheinmetall se expandió por el continente y ya tiene plantas en cinco países europeos: Alemania, España, Bulgaria, Hungría y Lituania. Además, desarrolla en Ucrania una fábrica conjunta con un socio empresarial ucraniano. KNDS fabrica ya en Francia, Italia y Letonia. Nammo en Noruega, Finlandia, Suecia y ultima la apertura de una fábrica en Dinamarca.
El tercer paso fue abrir el cuello de botella que frenaba el aumento de la fabricación de obuses. El problema no estaba en fabricar las carcasas metálicas, sino en rellenarlas de explosivos. KNDS usó 41 millones de euros del programa europeo para aumentar su producción de pólvora. Nammo triplicó esa capacidad en tres años en una fábrica sueca.
Europa producirá ya este año más de dos millones de obuses de artillería, más del doble que la industria estadounidense y sólo superada por una Rusia que tiene aportes sustanciales de Corea del Norte.
Para cuando arranque 2027, la producción europea llegará a 2,5 millones de obuses. Washington, en cambio, calculaba alcanzar 1,2 millones en 2025 pero se ha estancado en poco más de medio millón y ahora estima que necesitará todo 2026 para llegar al millón. Europa aumenta su capacidad militar industrial porque sabe que poco puede contar ya con Estados Unidos y que debe seguir armando a Ucrania y rellenar sus arsenales.
El cambio vino de la mano principalmente de unas pocas empresas: Rheinmetall, KNDS, BAE Systems y Nammo. Atraídas por los fondos nacionales y europeos, pero sobre todo por contratos a largo plazo que les aseguran ventas durante lo que queda de década, lanzaron una fuerte inversión en nuevas plantas y en nuevas líneas de fabricación.
El símbolo está en Unterlub, un pueblo de la Baja Sajonia alemana donde Rheinmetall inauguró la mayor fábrica de munición de Europa, construida en menos de 18 meses y con una inversión de más de 500 millones de euros. Sólo de esa fábrica podrán salir, trabajando en un solo turno, 350.000 obuses de artillería al año. Si la fábrica trabajara 24 horas al día triplicando turnos superaría el millón de obuses al año.
En menos de cuatro años los europeos han completado su mayor reconversión industrial militar desde el fin de la Guerra Fría, cuando redujeron rápidamente su producción militar porque no había comprador para tanta arma y tanta munición.
Mientras tanto, Estados Unidos se quedó atrás. En febrero de 2024, Washington dijo que en 2025 estaría fabricando 1,2 millones de obuses. Pero desde septiembre de 2024 su producción está estancada. Según los medios estadounidenses, el problema es que la certificación es más lenta que en Europa, pero sobre todo que la planta que General Dynamics debía poner a toda máquina en Mesquite (Texas) lleva un año de retrasos.
El cambio industrial tiene consecuencias que van más allá de los números de producción. Por primera desde 1945 los europeos estarían en situación de sostener una guerra convencional de alta intensidad con sus propias industrias. Además, Europa puede ahora suministrar a Ucrania casi todo lo que necesita en el plano militar, reduciendo esa dependencia de Estados Unidos. El 80% de la munición de artillería que dispara ahora Ucrania es europea.
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